‘Liam Gallagher is funnier than most standups!’: Is comedy the new rock’n’roll – or vice versa?

Oasis’s tour gobbled up Edinburgh audiences while fringe comics put on shows about Britpop and Arctic Monkeys. The music industry and the funny business could be more entwined than ever‘Comedy is the new rock’n’roll!” This line, variously attributed to…

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Zainab Johnson: Toxically Optimistic review – US comic targets gun culture

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe slick standup’s fringe debut is full of searching questions about the right to keep and bear arms‘I’ve got a gun.” Nice to be pitched, with that opening line, straight into a show declaring itself different from the ot…

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House Party review – home truths about gentrification in east London

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghChakira Alin’s buoyant show is shot through with bitterness as she gives a lucid account of Hackney’s transformationIn her solo show about the aftermath of gentrification and austerity, Chakira Alin bemoans the rise of cos…

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Liam Withnail: Big Strong Boy review – look back in laughter at misfit youth

Monkey Barrel, EdinburghThe standup’s tale of teenage travails, guilt and redemption borders on the sentimental but gets the balance rightThere’s trauma comedy, finding laughter in the very worst moments of our lives. But there’s space too for quite-a-…

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The Edinburgh fringe has almost 4,000 shows – what does it take for a standup to stand out?

The city is plastered with festival posters during August. If you want to make an impression, beware goofy grins and try channelling Charli xcxThe Edinburgh fringe is in full swing and I’m looking for my posters. Which, given the function of a poster, …

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Bebe Cave: Christbride review – an irreverent romp through womanhood in the middle ages

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghPity poor Batilda Bigbum as she navigates a failed courtship and flight to a nunnery, before being burnt as a witch in this uproarious comedyOne of the great characters in recent live comedy is Rosalie Minnitt’s Clementine, a s…

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Rachel Galvo: The Shite Feminist review – swaggering comedy about religion and privilege at an all-girls school

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghIn an eyebrow-raising debut, Galvo shares not very fond memories of her education in IrelandRachel Galvo ditched a career in business a few years back, fleeing Dublin for London drama school – where she wrote what is now The Sh…

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The Ego review – tricksy stories from film sets and award ceremonies

Zoo Playground, EdinburghBelgian actors Verona Verbakel and Anemone Valcke share anecdotes about their industry in a knotty show about ambition and failureWhen we arrive, the screen behind the performers is displaying the entry for The Ego in the onlin…

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Babyfleareindeerbag review – build your own Edinburgh fringe smash hit

Summerhall, EdinburghHannah Maxwell’s delightfully meta hour, namechecking Richard Gadd and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s breakthroughs, is a blueprint for three potential shows – with the audience as focus groupHannah Maxwell would dearly like a bad review. …

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Dan Rath: Tropical Depression review – misfit’s magical one-liners flip the world upside down

Monkey Barrel, EdinburghZero per cent alcohol? Ghosting? ADHD? Our self-flagellating host has a skewed take on them all You could write theses on comedy’s relationship with social maladjustment. Many a standup, we imagine, was once an awkward kid makin…

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